Betsy Sinclair, professor of political science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named a fellow of the Society for Political Methodology.
The position of fellow honors individuals who “have made outstanding scholarly contributions to the development of political methodology, and whose methodological work has had a major international impact on subsequent scholarship in the field (or) in the discipline more broadly.”
Sinclair’s research interests include American politics and political methodology with an emphasis on individual political behavior. She focuses on the social foundations of participatory democracy — the ways in which social networks influence voting, donating, choosing a candidate or identifying with a particular party. She is the founder of Magnify, a social media app that connects like-minded people to work on civic, political and environmental projects.
“Professor Sinclair has made important contributions that range from evaluating the consequences of different voting technologies to developing techniques to draw causal inferences from social network data,” said Suzanna Linn, the society’s president.
Sinclair has served as associate editor for Political Analysis; the Journal of Experimental Political Science; and the Journal of Public Policy. She is vice president of the Society of Political Methodology and has received awards from both the society and the American Political Science Association.
